A Hard Decision
by Always A Dragon
Summary: A muggle born gets her Hogwarts letter, but the choice isn't exactly easy.


**A/N: Got bored so I wrote this.**

Ashley Whetham dug in the refrigerator, searching for the ice-cream cake. There- in the top left corner. She grabbed the cake and shut the refrigerator door. Ashley's mum stood at the kitchen table, two bowls half-filled with berries already placed out.

"Here." Ashley's mum took the remains of the ice-cream cake, spooning the stuff out into the bowls. Ashley swung onto the kitchen stool, taking her bowl.

"Good, huh?" her mum asked, and Ashley nodded enthusiastically. Sunshine, her golden retriever, pawed at Ashley's knee, who looked down, laughing,

"_You _can't have it, Sunshine. You're a dog."

Ashley loved ice-cream. If she could, she would have it every day of every week, except her mother made sure this didn't happen. But every once in a while, like on her birthday, which had been a week earlier, the rules were lifted. This year Ashley had got an ice-cream cake, and it still hadn't been completely eaten.

She had almost finished the bowl when there came a knock on the door.

"I'll get it." her mum said, standing up and heading to the door. Ashley craned her neck around. The door opened, but she couldn't see who was there.

"Filius Flitwick. I'm here to see Ashley Whetham?" the speaker had a squeaky voice, and Ashley was sure she had never heard it before.

"I'm sorry- do I know you?" her mum asked, confused.

"Oh- I think- I think it might be better if I could come in?"

There was a split second of hesitation.

"Yes, alright."

Ashley's mum ushered the stranger into the living room. At first, Ashley was confused, until she looked down. There was the smallest man she had ever seen, with a shock of white hair on his head. Even stranger than that, if it was possible, was that he was wearing a suit, the kind one might wear to a wedding. Ashley had never seen someone wear a suit before. The man -Filius Flitwick, Ashley remembered- decided to sit on the couch, and Ashley's mum took the seat opposite him. Ashley abandoned her cake and sat down next to her mum, looking at Flitwick curiously. Sunshine sniffed the man curiously, before settling down at Ashley's feet. The man coughed and drew out a letter from his jacket, handing it to Ashley. She took it.

"Yes. It would be better if you read this first." He said, as Ashley traced the purple seal. It had some sort of crest on it, with a lion, a badger, a snake and what seemed to be some kind of bird. Ashley had never seen a letter with a wax _seal _ on it before. Usually she just used normal envelopes.

_Ashley Whetham_

_229 Thistle Street_

_London_

The green writing said. Ashley broke the seal, opening up the letter within -_letters, _she thought, as there were two of them- and began to read.

_Headmistress: Minerva McGonagall_

_(Order of Merlin, First Class)_

_Dear Ms. Whetham,_

_We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at __Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry__. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment._

_Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than __31 July__._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Filius Flitwick_

_Deputy Headmaster_

Witchcraft and Wizardry? Ashley couldn't make sense of it. Surely this was some kind of prank.

"Is this a joke?" She asked Flitwick, frowning. Flitwick shook his head frantically.

"Oh no!" he squeaked. "No, not at all. You are, in fact, a witch."

"Excuse me?" Mum said angrily.

"You can do magic. Have you ever noticed odd things happen to you?"

Ashley thought back. When she was five, she had hovered above the carpet once. Her mum hadn't been around at the time, and due to her young age, Ashley had always passed it off as her imagination going wild. Another time, when she was eight, a classmate had taken her colouring pencils and refused to give them back when all of a sudden a hundred flies began swarming around him until he returned the pencils.

"I guess…" she replied. Did he mean she was a witch like in the fairy-tale stories, though? She asked him.

"No, not at all!" Flitwick said enthusiastically, "At Hogwarts you learn how to control your magic, rather than the accidental magic you have previously displayed."

Ashley gulped. Everything was surreal, as if all the puzzle pieces were fitting together only to reveal a completely strange and unidentifiable picture. She narrowed her grey eyes and crossed her arms.

"How do I know this isn't just a trick?" she asked suspiciously. The small man smiled and took out a stick from yet another jacket pocket. Flitwick cleared his throat and said something unintelligible, pointing it at the bowl of fruit on the coffee table. Immediately, an apple sprouted legs, and to Ashley's complete and utter amazement, started to dance around the bowl. Flitwick said something else and the apple returned to normal. Ashley leaned forwards and picked the fruit up, turning it around in her hands. No, this definitely wasn't an illusion, her mum was completely white. Flitwick sat back, smiling.

"So, Miss. Whetham, will you attend Hogwarts?" he asked.

Ashley stopped, put down the apple, and thought. She liked her life as it was, with her friends and her good grades in school. Yet magic… It was so _interesting. _To be able to master it… Suddenly, a thought popped up into her head.

"Is Hogwarts a boarding school?" she asked. Flitwick nodded, and she felt her heart plummet. Ashley knew she would never go to a boarding school. It would be too hard on her, only seeing her mum only a few times every year. It would be hard on her mum, too, who would only have Sunshine.

_Sunshine…_ The dog came up to her, licking her hand. No, she wouldn't leave Sunshine. Ashley looked up at the ceiling. She wouldn't leave her friends either, and she loved her school. While magic seemed amazing, she decided it wasn't worth it.

"No." Ashley said to Flitwick. "Sorry, but I'd rather stay here."

Flitwick frowned.

"Oh, dear." He said thoughtfully, and for a moment Ashley wondered if she would be forced to go, "I'll have to talk to Minerva. This kind of thing hasn't happened in years." He pulled a piece of paper -_parchment, _Ashley corrected- from his jacket pocket and wrote something on it. Dimly, she wondered how many pockets he had, before he waved the stick and sent the parchment flying through the air and whizzing out the kitchen window.

"It'll be a few minutes." He said apologetically. Ashley's mum stood up shakily, although a faint smile of relief was on her face.

"How about a cup of tea, then?" she asked, and Flitwick nodded. Mum got up, walked over to the kitchen and filled up the kettle. The next few minutes passed in awkward silence, only broken by the sound of the kettle boiling.

"Thankyou, Mrs Whetham." Flitwick said in his squeaky voice, accepting his cup of tea. Ashley murmured her thanks too. When Ashley's tea was almost half-gone, a piece of parchment came zooming through the window, speeding towards Flitwick, who caught it in mid-air. Ashley could tell it was a different letter than the one Flitwick had sent earlier, because of the different hand-writing and colour in ink. Flitwick broke the seal, opened up the letter and handed it to Ashley. Her mum leaned towards her, reading over Ashley's shoulder.

_Dear Miss Whetham,_

_As you do not wish to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, measures will have to be put in place. A witch or wizard shall be placed in your street, and will teach you basic skills so you can control your magic. The lessons will occur twice a week, for two hours each until the witch/wizard is satisfied that you can control your magic. _

_Please note that there is a Statute of Secrecy, and you will not be allowed to perform magic in front of non-magical people. Failure to recognize this will lead to serious consequences and possible imprisonment._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Minerva McGonagall,_

_Headmistress_

Ashley looked up and put down the letter. Obviously there were serious consequences for using _accidental _magic. Hmmm…

"So I don't have to go to the school?" she asked Flitwick.

"No, not at all." He replied, shaking his head.

Well, that settled it. Ashley patted Sunshine. She wouldn't have to leave her friends and her family, then. Good.

"I shall be off." Flitwick said, getting up. "If you have any more questions, please contact me." Then he was out the door, before Ashley could ask him exactly how she could do that. A few seconds passed. Ashley looked at her mum, a grin spreading across her face.

"I guess you really _did _hover over that carpet, then." Her mum said. They got up, her mum tousling Ashley's hair.

"We still haven't finished off that cake." Ashley noted, swinging herself onto the kitchen stool.

It all seemed very surreal, as if it had all been a dream. Ashley rubbed her eyes and looked back at the coffee table. The letters still sat there, the only evidence. Ashley shrugged and returned to her cake. It was definitely a good thing she didn't accept. How we should be able to live with not having bowls of ice-cream cake with her mum?

**A/N: If someone came up to me and gave me the Hogwarts Letter (and if I had no knowledge of magic actually existing) my first reaction would be "Is this a joke?" **

**Think about it though. If you had good friends and liked your life as it was, would you ****_really _****want to go to Hogwarts? I'm very much a Harry Potter fan, though, don't get me wrong! :P**

**Just my thoughts.**

**Anyway, hope you enjoyed this short story, **

**-Always A Dragon**


End file.
